Why The GTA 6 Graphics Have Fans Worried

The gaming world lost its collective mind on September 18 when 3GB worth of footage from the development of "Grand Theft Auto 6" was leaked to the GTA Forums for the world to see. In what is undoubtedly one of the biggest stories in gaming history, the leak — which was later confirmed by Rockstar Games to be legit — gave fans of the "Grand Theft Auto" series an unauthorized first look at the various features that the game will contain, confirming Vice City as its setting and revealing that there will be at least two playable main characters. However, even after the bombshell leak revealed a plethora amount of pivotal information regarding a long hyped-up release, some fans didn't seem satisfied with what they saw.

Prior to the leak, "Grand Theft Auto 6" hadn't been the subject of any gameplay reveals. As of right now, the game doesn't even have a teaser trailer. The only official indication that the game exists and is in active development arrived in the form of a blog post from Rockstar Games in February 2022, which finally confirmed a new "Grand Theft Auto" title was being worked on. Obviously, at this early stage in the game's development cycle, the highly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto 6" isn't ready for its close-up.

But despite this fact, many gamers and fans of "Grand Theft Auto" series took to social media after the leaks were made public and expressed why they were worried about the game's graphics. Here's what fans had to say about the state of the leaked footage.

"Grand Theft Auto 6" is still very much in active development and, according to some industry insiders, is likely 2-3 years away from its official release. However, that hasn't stopped many onlookers from making comments about what the game currently looks like and giving their unfiltered first impressions. One user on Twitter insinuated that the game seems almost complete, arguing that what fans are currently seeing is likely indicative of what the final product will look like. Another eager Twitter critic also dragged the game, saying, "This literally looks like [an] off brand of 'Watch Dogs 2.' Even for early alpha footage this looks bad."

Though fans like this certainly don't make up the majority of the discourse surrounding "Grand Theft Auto 6," there is a vocal minority of fans who aren't all too impressed. Even in Reddit threads dedicated to reminding others of the game's development timeline, not everyone was confident in the idea that the game will eventually look much better. One Redditor expressed concern that "GTA 6" would look too similar to "Grand Theft Auto 5," a game that will be over a decade old when its sequel eventually releases. "People are expecting [Unreal Engine 5] realism graphics. Not a polished cartoon," this user said. "Seems like 'GTA' is going for the polished cartoon style like 'Fortnite.' They should've went for realism like 'Call of Duty.'"

All of this discourse prompted YouTuber MrTLexify to quip, "The GTA 6 Leak proves that gamers have no idea about how game development works whatsoever... These homies are complaining that the game looks unfinished when it literally is."

Since the "Grand Theft Auto 6" leaks emerged on the internet, many within the gaming industry have stood in solidarity with Rockstar Games. "The Last of Us" director and Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann weighed in on the situation shortly after the leaks began sweeping the internet, urging Rockstar's staff to push through the adversity posed by the unexpected data breach. In similar fashion, many other industry figureheads have reminded fans that what they're seeing is footage from an incomplete development and that games like "GTA 6" often don't look finished until much later down the line.

In response to a comment that claimed "Grand Theft Auto 6" should look way better than it does this far along in development, former BioWare dev Mark Darrah intervened. The developer reminded everyone that even two years into the development of the lauded "Mass Effect 3," Commander Shephard's model was still missing a noggin. "It was the third one. On the same engine. No head," Darrah said. Another employee at EA BioWare, writer Patrick Weekes, went even further in describing how long it took "Mass Effect 3" to take shape into the game it ultimately became. "In ['Mass Effect 3'], one year from ship, the only run 'ME3'-ready animation we had was for the Reaper husk, so that was how Shepard ran for a full month," Weekes revealed.

Even non-developers chimed in, with one Twitter user pointing out the low-res textures that were still prevalent in "Red Dead Redemption 2" even after two years of development. In other words, it's highly unlikely that the leaked footage is anything close to the final product, which is all the more reason for Rockstar to be disappointed in the hacker's actions.